1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the operation and control of electro-optical devices such as lasers and laser diodes. More specifically, but without limitation thereto, the present invention is directed to a method and firmware for an electro-optical device.
2. Description of Related Art
Many different types of electro-optical devices are used in a variety of applications, for example, in optical transceivers used for fiber-optic communications systems. Each electro-optical device application typically includes a drive current source to drive the electro-optical device and a light output monitor to measure the optical power output of the electro-optical device. Depending on the type of electro-optical device, a device controller may measure and set several parameters to control the electro-optical device. An example of a measured parameter is optical output power. In an optical transceiver, lasers are utilized to transmit high speed information. An example of a set parameter is optical modulation amplitude (OMA) digital set point value. The set parameters are typically hard-coded in firmware or determined by hardware components in the controller. For example, the user may change components or modify software to adjust the optical modulation amplitude or the extinction ratio (ER) of a laser until a desired set point is measured.